This Yoruba Ijala (Hunting Poem) is different, praising not an animal but a plant. Cassava, also called manioc or tapioca, is a root vegetable, rich in starch, but not so nutritious as yams or maize, and consequently grown only along the farm’s boundary. But the images in this poem – bride, friend, prince, wife, camwood – along with the musical support, all suggest how greatly it is valued.

Lafunyinrin, (1)
a stand-by cheering the despondent. (2)
As it stands along the farm-plot boundary,
its base appears beautiful like a bride’s feet.
Friend of beef, (3)
cult-colleague of green vegetables. (4)
It doesn’t struggle with anyone
save one who has come very close to the pot. (5)
On failing to get a supply of it,
the son of Akinyele would ask himself, saying, (6)
‘Has Lafunyinrin gone to the farm, or on a visit somewhere in town?’
Lalee. (7)
Sticking to the pot tenaciously.
Wife along the farm-plot boundary (8)
who teaches the house how to wrestle. (9)
O cassava to whom the bembe drum beats a salute
that never reaches an end, (10)
but becomes a song
which runs thus:I alone ate itand I was fully satisfied.I alone ate itand I was fully satisfied.
It is no small service the cassava renders us in this our land.
O my dear friend,
consider that we eat eba, (11)
we eat feselu, (12)
and when in a hurry we buy kasada and eat it as a meal, (13)
the tall and slender plant which takes on the hue of camwood, (14)
along the farm-plot boundary.